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Arizona State has dominated Washington over the past decade.
In the two teams' eight meetings since 2002, the Sun Devils are undefeated against the Washington Huskies, another strong program that has struggled to make the transition to elite. Each team has had its individual struggles, but when the Sun Devils and Huskies face off it has been all Arizona State. In fact, the last time Washington has beaten Arizona State came in 2001, when Rick Neuheisel was coach of the Huskies and Dirk Koetter was in his first year as coach of the Sun Devils.
Last season, the Huskies were ranked No. 20 in the nation while the Sun Devils were still unranked two weeks after their loss to Notre Dame. Washington had dropped its last two games, losing to top-5 teams Oregon and Stanford back-to-back, and the trip to Tempe was seen as a must-win for the Huskies as well as the Sun Devils.
it didn't take long for Washington to make its presence felt, as Bishop Sankey's 1-yard run gave the Huskies a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter. Then it all fell apart for Steve Sarkisian's squad. A 7-3 game at the end of one, the Sun Devil offense absolutely exploded in the second quarter. Marion Grice and Chris Coyle each caught touchdown passes from Taylor Kelly, and Kelly scored on a 1-yard plunge as the Sun Devils burst out to a 29-7 lead at half. After the rushing touchdown on Washington's first drive, the Arizona State defense forced an incredible seven straight punts.
Husky quarterback Keith Price kept the Huskies within distance of a possible comeback, as a pair of passing touchdowns in the third quarter ended Washington's offensive drought. But Arizona State kept adding on scores, as Kelly rushed for his second touchdown of the day while Grice reached the end zone another two times, both on rushes. When it was all said and done, the Sun Devils left with a dominating 53-24 win. The win marked Arizona State's last week of the season not being ranked, and they made their return to the rankings at No. 25 the next week. The win over Washington jumpstarted a five game winning streak that spanned the remainder of the regular season.